Tricycle Blog

This cartoon from our friend Roberto Guerra more or less sums it up:
And here's a short clip of some beautiful chanting from the annual 24 Hour Nembutsu of the Amida Trust, from Pure Land Etchings. Here's a brief "Theory of Nembutsu" if you'd like to know more. The term roughly means Buddha in Mind, or Mindfulness of the Buddha, and derives, I think, from the Sanskrit Namo Amitabha Buddha. Comments clarifying this would be most welcome!
- Philip Ryan, Web Editor
More »

Reading about perfectionism / OCD in the New York Times. A counselor at U.C. Davis treating perfectionists gives them this advice:
Leave work on time. Don’t arrive early. Take all the breaks allowed. Leave the desk a mess. Allow yourself a set number of tries to finish a job; then turn in what you have.
David Brooks, in another part of the paper, talks about China being a radical meritocracy (no one leaves work on time there):
When you talk to Americans, you find that they have all these weird notions about Chinese communism. You try to tell them that China isn’t a communist country anymore. It’s got a different system: meritocratic paternalism. You joke: Imagine the Ivy League taking over the shell of the Communist Party and deciding not to change the name.
More »

BURMA: Aung Sann Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy will not be involved in drafting Burma's new constitution, according to a spokesman for the junta. The junta also dismissed the September protests as "trivial." But the protesters will nevertheless be put on trial, in a complete mockery of due process.
Ecologists are complaining about China's dams in Burma.
More »

More bad news from Burma: While Aung San Suu Kyi meets again with the representatives of the junta delegated to keep her busy, Maggin monastery, supposedly linked to the protests, is shut down. The abbot of Maggin, Sayadaw U Indaka, has been arrested and is held in an undisclosed location. Maggin Monastery, located in Rangoon, is a sanctuary for HIV / AIDS patients from rural areas seeking treatment in the big city.
"Closing a monastery is unprecedented in recent history," said a Burmese journalist who visited the monastery to confirm the closure. "Authorities have seen Maggin monastery as a camp of political activists.
More »

In its December 2007 issue (p. 26 or so), National Geographic reports on World Religions (with helpful and colorful diagrams.) The world breaks down this way: 33% Christian, 21% Muslim, 14% Nonbelievers, 13% Hindus, 12% Other, 6% Buddhist, and a small amount of Jews, some fraction of 1%. The data comes from 2005, courtesy of the World Christian Database (Center for the Study of Global Christianity at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) and there is nothing about number or methods. It doesn't really matter -- Americans are mostly interested in the Muslim figures in studies like this. The Nonbelievers figure is probably skewed by Communist countries, which all rank very high in Nonbelievers, with the exception of Laos -- and frankly I'm very skeptical as to what their data is on Laos anyway. This is all about Market Share.
More »

Sad but apparently true:
Amnesty International has condemned the continuing arrests of political activists inside Burma despite what it says was the government's pledge to stop.
The London-based rights group on Tuesday published details of the arrest of several activists since early November.
Amnesty says Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein made a commitment to Ibrahim Gambari to halt the arrests when the U.N. special envoy met with him earlier this month.
Thein Sein is not to be confused with the junta's supremo, Than Shwe, also known as the Bulldog. Also, Burmese refugees settle in the Washingon, D.C. area. No word on which candidate they're leaning for -- oh, wait. They'll never be given citizenship in post-9/11 America.
More »

This is a guest post by Lama Surya Das (that was supposed to be published before Thanksgiving.)
As the holydays start coming upon us, fast and furious, I like to turn back to spiritual readings and teachings to refresh and remind me what it's all about. Of course, having been called the 'Ocean of Questions,' I like to start with questions and then live mindfully into them. So first my HolyDay questions: What is this really all about? Why are we here? What are we doing? And what is important and really matters? Aren't these all part of life's big questions, anyway?
More »

Danny Fisher alerts us to the protests at Bodh Gaya -- protests against the Myanamar junta, that is. There is a strong Burmese presence in Bodh Gaya, Burma being not so far away. (Since the monks mentioned are wearing yellow, not red, they are more likely to be Sri Lankan, perhaps, than Burmese.)
Beautiful account (plus photos!) of a visit to Korea on the always entertaining Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa.
Our friends at Tibet House are teaming up with Christie's for an auction on December 5th. What's up for grabs? Works by Donald Baechler, Lynn Davis and Annie Leibovitz, exotic trips and a guitar autographed by Dave Matthews.
More »

Why is atheism so hot right now? The Nation's Katha Pollitt:
There's no question in my mind that horror at militant Islam and fear of Muslim immigration lie behind at least some of the current vogue for atheism--you don't make the bestseller list by excoriating the evils of Lutheranism or Buddhism. The problem is that the more scorn one feels for religious belief, the less able one is to appreciate "reformed" or "moderate" variants of the faith. After all, pro-gay Episcopalians and liberation theology Catholics still believe in Christ, the afterlife, sin; reformed Jews still find wisdom in the Old Testament. Strictly speaking, an atheist should have no truck with any of it. But if all you can offer people is reasons to quit their religion--which also often means their community, their family, their support system and their identity--you're not going to have many takers.
More »

This NYT blog post on the stem cell debate -- and various other issues where religious warriors wade into deep water to do battle with the krakens of science -- caught my eye. Among other things, a commentor suggests scientism, a word I'm fond of, is invented by the right (like "Islamofascism"):
Alas for the Christians, who have had to fight a mighty, mostly losing battle with scientists. The last ditch effort, creating a new word, scientism, for a general ad hominem is pretty lame. Perhaps they should switch to Buddhism, in which the conflicts are rare.
- Philip Ryan, Web Editor
More »

Our friends at Metta Forest Monastery, whose buildings and grounds were spared by the terrible September October fires in southern California, have not been so lucky with their website. Their site is down and it might be nice for some web-savvy friendly Buddhist webmaster-type in southern California to lend a hand. Their contact information is here. I visited Metta Forest a while ago and had a wonderful time. So why aren't I living there as a renunciate and earning merit for you all? Sigh.
BURMA: Blood rubies, bloodshed, kleptocratic bureaucrats, monks bludgeoned in the streets, and now bird flu.
More »

This appeared in the New York Times recently (and has some bearing on a recent post here):
In other words, the laws [of physics] should have an explanation from within the universe and not involve appealing to an external agency. The specifics of that explanation are a matter for future research. But until science comes up with a testable theory of the laws of the universe, its claim to be free of faith is manifestly bogus.
- Philip Ryan, Web Editor
More »

The New York Times blog commented on Clark Strand's WSJ piece a while back. (See this post as well if you like.) There are many interesting comments following the NYT post: You certainly can't argue that Mr. Strand doesn't know how to ruffle some feathers. Many people seemed to miss that this was an opinion piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, although it's true that a related article appeared earlier in Tricycle.
It seems Brad Warner of Hardcore Zen wants a job, a good job!
More »

Steven Seagal is back on the Buddhist scene, visiting what is said to be Europe's largest Buddhist temple in the Russian Federation republic of Kalmykia. Most readers will remember that Seagal was recognized as a tulku by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche about ten years ago. Kalmykia itself is notable for being the only region in Europe where Buddhism is the dominant religion. Seagal is also visiting a boxing tournament in Elista, Kalmykia's capital.
More »

This is a guest-post from Lama Surya Das.
I have been asking people around the country about what is their big life question. Many say in return, “What do you mean?” I say—“You know, the big questions of life and death, the afterlife, God, suffering, meaning and purpose, truth, happiness, love.” And they inevitably say, “Oh, those big questions.” For everyone is familiar with them. We are all faced with these questions throughout life, as well as with the many little quandaries of daily life. How well and to what degree we attend to them varies from person to person and from decade to decade. I myself feel well endowed with the Why Chromosome.
More »

There's a mention of SFZC's groundbreaking restaurant Greens in this pretty photo gallery of vegetarian dining in San Francisco, and also in the related article (from the New York Times.)
Normally when we hear Pakistan and Buddhism in the same sentence, it's because Islamists have dynamited another statue. But here's a case where some villagers got together and saved a statue.
Will Smith has studied Buddhism and Hinduism and says they're no better or worse than Scientology.
Who came out on top at the recent ASEAN conference?
More »

Tricycle contributing editor Frank Olinsky snapped this picture of a zafu around the corner from his Brooklyn digs recently, and it seems to scream for a caption or story, doesn't it? Let us know if you come up with one!
More »

The cyclone that hit Bangladesh last week killed more than 3,000 people and may have left a million homeless. As sea levels rise, expect more problems like this in Bangladesh and other low-lying coastal areas (where most of the world's population lives.)
A Hollywood movie has Jesus hanging out with Buddhists and fighting the caste system in India during his "missing years" between ages 13 and 30.
ASEAN is coming under fire for their handling of the situation in Burma. U.S. Trade Representative and Bush appointee Susan Schwab said ASEAN has a "special responsibility" to make Burma comply with international calls for reform. And U.N.
More »